The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present invention and may not constitute prior art.
Detection of nuclear radiation (gamma and neutron) has been of interest since the inception of nuclear technology. As a result, significant research has advanced radiation technology through the introduction and optimization of ionization chambers, proportional counters, scintillation detectors, photomultiplier tubes, and semiconductor diode detectors. At the very heart of this effort has been the fundamental understanding of materials that demonstrate measurable changes when in contact with nuclear and radiological sources. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide a detector using materials that demonstrate measurable changes when in contact with nuclear and radiological sources.
To this end, multiple gas-based and solid state detectors have been developed which exploit materials with exceedingly high neutron capture cross sections. Therefore, a need has been identified in the art to provide a detector using detection materials with an exceedingly high neutron capture cross section.
Helium-3 (3He) has been the bench-mark for new radiologically sensitive materials since its inception in 1955, and has been widely available commercially for nearly 40 years. Silicon-based solid-state detectors have also been developed which improve upon the robustness, power consumption, and energy resolution compared to their scintillator and ionization chamber counterparts. Recently, Boron-10 (10B) bearing solid state detectors have also shown promise as a neutron detection material, and have demonstrated higher detection efficiencies than its He3 counterpart under the same conditions. Therefore, a need has been identified in the art to provide a solid state detector having a neutron detection material with detection efficiencies that improve over the state-of-the-art.
With the advancement of nuclear detectors and their placement out in the field or in operation, and possible subsequent unwanted detection after being put into operation, a need has arisen for nuclear detectors to be cloaked from view or from being detected for providing covert nuclear radiation detection. Therefore, according to at least one object, feature or advantage of the present invention, a transparent nuclear radiation detector is provided to avoid detection after being “placed” or for use in applications where visible transparency is desired.
Given the increasing diversity of applications and situations where radiation detection is desired, nuclear radiation detectors stand to benefit from having increased robustness and flexibility. Therefore, a further object, feature or advantage of the present invention is to provide a multifunctional, transparent, flexible, nuclear detector (MTFND) having increased flexibility and robustness.
Still, a further object, feature or advantage of the present invention is to provide a nuclear radiation detector that is capable of sensing and detecting nuclear radiation using multiple and/or hybrid sensing and detection modes.
Another object, feature or advantage of the present invention is to provide large area, structurally flexible substrate for the application of the detector to planar, curved, and the mixed combination of surfaces.
Another object, feature or advantage of the present invention is to provide a multifunctional nuclear radiation detector having multiple potential charge carrier generation mechanisms where capacitance and/or current pulses from the detector provide forensic detection of nuclear radiation.
A further object, feature or advantage of the present invention is to provide a nuclear radiation detector according to the present invention that includes a wireless communications architecture for controlling operation of the detector or for broadcasting detection readings.
These and/or other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent. No single embodiment of the present invention need achieve all or any particular number of the foregoing objects, features, or advantages.